SEATTLE (Ticker) -- After avoiding a first-round playoff meeting
with the Los Angeles Lakers, the Seattle SuperSonics had nothing
to play for in their regular-season finale and it showed.

Seattle squandered an eight-point lead in the second half and
suffered a 114-106 defeat to the Los Angeles Clippers, who
snapped a 17-game losing streak.

The SuperSonics (45-37) finished seventh in the Western
Conference and will face the Utaz Jazz in the first round, while
the Kings will take on the top-seeded Lakers.

"We would have liked to win the game, but we didn't want to win
it at all cost," Seattle coach Paul Westphal said. "We went with
the young guys and it was probably what you would expect. We had
an emotional win last night and we knew there was nothing really
at stake in this game."

"I definitely think the playoffs are going to be like December
25 for me," Seattle forward Vin Baker added. "I've been looking
foward to them for a long time. It's been two years for us. I'm
excited about it. We have a chance to do something special."

Shammond Williams scored 17 points for the Sonics, who blew a
64-56 lead before a late rally fell short. Seattle sliced a
99-88 deficit to 102-100 on rookie Lazaro Borrell's basket with
3:20 left but the Clippers put it away with a 9-0 spurt.

"At the start of the year, if you told us we were in the
playoffs playing Utah, we would have been very happy," Westphal
said. We thought we could do it, most people didn't think we
could do it. Here we are and we're ready to go."

Jelani McCoy scored 15 points over the bench for the Sonics,
while Gary Payton added 14 in just 12 minutes. He had averaged
38 points in the Sonics' previous two games, both victories.
Horace Grant sat out with tendinitis in his left knee.

"It was an opportunity to play a lot of players and rest Gary,"
Westphal said.

Rookie Lamar Odom scored a season-high 33 points for the
Clippers (15-67), giving him his only two 30-point games against
Seattle. He had 30 in a season-opening loss to the Sonics on
November 2.

Los Angeles also snapped a 11-game losing streak against
Seattle, beating the Sonics for the first time since January
1997. The Clippers finished with more than 60 losses for the
sixth time in 16 seasons since moving to Los Angeles in 1984.

Eric Piatkowski scored 27 points and Tyrone Nesby added 23 for
the Clippers, who got only three points off the bench. Odom was
14-of-15 from the line and also grabbed 14 rebounds.

Seattle shot 51 percent (44-of-87) from the field but was
outrebounded, 49-35. The Clippers also made 12-of-19 3-pointers,
led by Piatkowski, who was 6-of-8.